A thief in China, identified as Sheng, meticulously planned a heist for a year, rowing a boat at dawn to steal 500,000 yuan (US$70,000) from his former employer.
Sheng, who had previously worked at the company, was apprehended within 24 hours by police in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, according to Zhejiang Legal Newsas reported by SCMP.
After considering using a stolen car or disguises, Sheng dismissed these options as too risky. He opted for a parked sanitation boat nearby, aiming to avoid detection by security cameras.
On the night of the theft, Sheng parked his car several kilometers away and rowed for three hours to reach the company’s premises. He then entered the building, disabled the surveillance system, and stole a 50kg safe from the accounting office.
Chinese yuan and U.S. dollars. Illustration by Unsplash |
Police received the theft report on Oct. 1 and faced difficulties with their investigation due to the sabotage of the company’s surveillance cameras and the lack of clues from roadside footage. However, detectives eventually reviewed footage from the riverbank and spotted a suspicious individual rowing a boat on the night of the incident.
Focusing their investigation on current and former employees familiar with the company’s security system, the police identified Sheng as the main suspect and tracked him down in his hometown in Jiangxi province, six hours from Hangzhou by car. The authorities later recovered the safe at the home of Sheng’s relative. Sheng confessed to the crime, revealing he had planned to use an electric welding torch to open the safe but was caught before he could execute this plan.
Sheng now faces a prison sentence of at least 10 years, with the possibility of life imprisonment. The case gained traction on social media, with users commenting on the irony of his elaborate planning and quick capture. One user remarked, “Planning for a year, caught in a day,” while another joked, “He should have used a submarine.”
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